


Peppermint

by Silver_KnightShade



Series: Post CA:CW AU Tony-centric oneshots [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Beta Read, Drabble, Gen, Illnesses, Not Tony-centric but involved, Overstimulation, Peppermint isn't nice to spiders, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Teenage Drama, What you love turned against you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 22:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12178074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_KnightShade/pseuds/Silver_KnightShade
Summary: Peter was feeling horrible today for no reason at all. He couldn't understand it, it changed seasons and he was now experiencing symptoms out of nowhere. Luckily, he had someone he could turn to because if he didn't figure this out before it could only get worse.





	Peppermint

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank **Hawkwind1980** for taking the time to beta-read this form me and point out mistakes I had made. It is the first time I am working with a beta-reader and with their help, I think I can get better with my writing.

# Peppermint

Everything had started out fine that day for Peter. Which gave him about a 50/50 shot of something going wrong. So naturally, something had gone wrong. It wasn’t anything major, but it was an annoyance. It was brisk outside and was transitioning into what counts as many people’s favorite time of year. The time when pumpkin spice everything came out as well as its companion peppermint.

It was wonderful.

There were so many good memories for times with his Uncle that came to mind. When times were simpler and happier. Not that he wasn’t happy with what he did have now…but it could never replace what he had before. It was more like an add-on or another piece of his life’s puzzle.

It was also annoying.

With his spider abilities came overstimulation once in awhile, as well. This time of year seemed to ramp that up. He had ways of dealing with that ever since he had an episode in front of Aunt May. Of course, in her panic, because she didn’t know what was going on and called him into school as well as took him to the hospital. Which legitimately freaked Peter, after all, no one knew he was Spider-Man. He wanted to go home but couldn’t find the words to tell her that.

He didn’t need to worry too much because whereas she didn’t seem too fond of him being Spider-Man, she wasn’t going to out him either. So, she allowed minimal poking and prodding…but, in the end, she received a lecture on what she did wrong. Hearing that Peter had been overstimulated and her rushing him to the hospital was not what was best. She had literally manhandled the poor boy into a more stressful environment. When they told her what it was and told her what she should have done, they shut off access to the room. It was only her and the doctor with Peter until he worked through the episode with their help.

After that she took him home, apologizing for the whole thing. No matter what Peter said or how many times he told her it was okay. He would have told her if he could have. Then there was that awkward moment where she asked with almost an accusing tone in her voice if Mr. Stark knew. Peter confirmed that no, he didn’t…this was the first time it ever happened with someone else around. Which only dug him a deeper hole. He had to tell her that the other episodes were small and he didn’t go out on patrol those nights. He normally would have risked it if he didn’t have Karen threatening to tell FRIDAY, who in turn would have told Mr. Stark…and he promised Mr. Stark he wouldn’t go out feeling ill.

That seemed to sedate the anger in his Aunt. She smiled a little and told him she was proud he was becoming responsible. Ushering him to bed to sleep off the effects. The next day he was told that she had called up Tony to let him know Peter would be taking a couple days off from everything because he wasn’t feeling well. She mentioned the overstimulation just so Tony could be prepared if it were to happen while Peter was around him. 

So with work, he had a routine to help deal with overstimulation. So, he knew the signs of an attack, right? If that was the case, why he was feeling as if he was teetering on the edge all day? It started when he had gotten ready for school and the hot cocoa he had before heading off didn’t settle in his stomach. Odd, as it was his favorite, Peppermint Cocoa, same brand he had been having for a couple years now. He didn’t think too much about it.

The school was okay…until he had to interact with MJ. This had never been a problem before, but today he couldn’t stand being around her or any other girls for that matter. So, his behavior was off and he did get cornered by MJ about it. He said he wasn’t sure, but he thought he might be on the edge of getting sick. After all his cocoa didn’t settle in his stomach, so it might have something to do with it. Lying to MJ was in the same category of lying to his Aunt or Mr. Stark, you don’t do it. He didn’t know specifically what it was. She seemed to buy it.

Needless to say by the end of school, the day had just been horrible with how he was feeling. Luckily, it was one of the days Happy picked him up and he could go ask Mr. Stark to see if they could figure it out. Unfortunately, the car smelt off. It made him want to hurl. The minty air freshener did nothing to help either. Getting up to the lab, where he knew his mentor was located, he passed by one of the guards he normally had some good conversations with…he couldn’t get close to her. She asked if he was alright after seeing him cringe a little bit and all he could do was nod and tell her it was a rough day. She nodded and let him pass by.

Rushing into the lab, Peter ran up to the man. It probably wasn’t the best idea as the man flinched, not expecting a loud teenage to come barreling at him. Luckily for Mr. Stark, Peter stopped just shy of nearly glomping the man.

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, I think I have a problem.”

“You think or you know? And it’s Tony.”

“Mr. Stark…” Peter whined. He really didn’t want to deal with the banter today. It was bad enough his Aunt asked him why he didn’t call Mr. Stark ‘Tony’ when the man asked. Cause she did.

“Okay, okay,” Tony relented with a slight grin, “What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m coming down with something but I don’t know the cause.”

“Explain,” was all Tony said. So Peter did just that.

As they were working on an experiment that didn’t need their constant attention, Peter told the man exactly what was going on. He told him all about his day and how he couldn’t stand to be around many of the girls at school, the ride over here, the guard in the hall and his hot cocoa dilemma. Tony Stark was a genius for many reasons and he seemingly put together all the evidence in no time and had a smirk on his face. A smirk that told Peter the man had figured it out.

“What? What is it?” Peter asked with some hope in his voice that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it could be.

“I think when you get overstimulated you gain an aversion to peppermint. Which makes sense because where spiders aren’t killed by peppermint, they don’t like it. It is a deterrent.”

“Wha-what?”

“One of my employees comes in all the time with the light scent of peppermint. All the time. So I had to ask, curiosity has always been one of my finer points. She told me she uses a room spray she made with peppermint oil because she lives in an area with more spiders than usual. It doesn’t solve the problem but drastically cuts down on the number of spiders that get into her home. So, living there, obviously, she is going to smell like peppermint.”

“How?”

“Well, you cringed when you walked past that employee for one. Two, you said the hot cocoa you had before school didn’t settle in your stomach quite right, you made mention about a week ago that it was your favorite ‘Peppermint’ and your Aunt had bought you some to have before school because it was getting cold out. I know Happy has recently put a peppermint air freshener in the car, you said the car ride was making you sick and as for this female friend of yours, one of her hand lotions probably has peppermint in it as it is becoming popular for this time of year specifically. From how you describe her, she probably doesn’t care about the scent so long as it does its job.”

“But this has never bothered me this much before?!” Peter exclaimed. He was a little on the panicked side now. Holidays would be hell if he couldn’t be around one of the scents that defined this time of year.

“I doubt this would have bothered you as much if it wasn’t for the change of seasons and all the new lights and smells coming in for the upcoming holidays. You probably didn’t give your body as much of a rest or time to adapt as you should have. You have these abilities and are still trying to figure out how to use them. Obviously, this could have also just recently developed to your body getting used to the changes it was forced through.”

Peter was floored. The spider bite gave him an aversion to peppermint. It was one of his favorite things. Where it wasn’t the end of the world, it certainly felt like it. 

“It is something I am going to have to tell your Aunt,” Tony said, turning back to the screen to bring up his contact list to send May a message. He didn’t use it often, for obvious enough reasons, but they had exchanged contact information so if Peter was hurt, sick or the worst option, missing, they could stay informed.

“You know she is gonna overuse it, right?” Peter asked. Aunt May still had not come to complete terms with him being Spider-Man. He was sure if she could she would use this against him. You know, like shove it in his face all the time so he felt ill and didn’t go out on patrol.

“Therein lies the problem,” Tony stated, “It only seems to kick in when you are sick or overstimulated, meaning your body can’t handle it at that time. You stated that earlier in the week you had the same hot chocolate and felt fine. So this is like a warning system. My worry is if anyone tries to ‘overuse’ it on you it could turn into an allergy or you may become immune. Immunity isn't bad, but it is not something I would risk. After all, you are human with some changes. It could go either way because the body is always adapting for better or worse.”

Taking all that information in, Peter was pretty sure with his luck he would develop the allergy if overexposed. Also, it would probably be deadly in his case as well. Wonderful. Typical Parker luck for you right there.

In the end, Tony had gotten a hold of May and explained what Peter and he had discovered. May, was not happy when she heard that it couldn’t be overdone. Peter called it, anything to try and convince him to give up Spider-man. She was thankful for the heads up, though, meaning that if she suspected him of being sick or overstimulated she could use the peppermint as a definite way to figure it out. At first, Peter complained, but Tony sided with his Aunt. Especially at this time of year, he better not risk it becoming worse. Peter made a note to make sure he tried to stay as healthy as possible not only so he could continue doing patrols…but because he still loved peppermint hot chocolate. Living without that would be horrendous.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you all for taking the time to read this little drabble of mine!


End file.
